Denso Corp developed an automotive headup display (HUD) whose screen size is 10.1 inches (240 × 90mm when its distance from the driver is 2m).
It projects video displayed on a TFT LCD panel embedded in a dashboard to a windshield by using a mirror, etc. It is the automotive HUD that has the industry's largest screen size, Denso said. The company has been engaged in the development of HUDs since 1991, and the largest screen size of its existing HUD products is 7.5 inches.
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| An image of the "Lane Guidance" (photo courtesy of Denso) |
The new HUD can display not only basic information such as the traveling speed of a vehicle and the speed limit of a road but also the "Lane Guidance," which links to a car navigation system, image sensor, etc and shows an arrow to lead the driver to the destination, and the notification of the existence of a pedestrian who is walking in front of the vehicle and detected by the sensor.
Those kinds of information are superimposed on an actual scenery so that the driver can quickly and intuitively obtain information. The screen has a high visibility even in strong sunlight because its brightness is as high as 3,000cd/m2, which is twice as high as the brightness of Denso's existing HUD products. Also, the company chose the locations and colors of displayed information so that it does not disturb the driver.
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| An image of a pedestrian detected by the HUD (photo courtesy of Denso) |
Denso plans to commercialize the HUD in about 2015. It will exhibit the HUD in its booth at the 19th ITS World Congress Vienna, which will take place from Oct 22 to 26, 2012, in Vienna, Austria.
